Chapter 13: The Influence of Modern Art

Cubism began from a series of works from Pablo Picasso, it was also greatly influenced by Paul Cezanne.  In cubism figures were abstracted into geometric shapes. Cubism was developed by Picasso and Georges Braque, as the art movement that replaced the rendering of appearances with the endless possibilities of invented form.  Futurism was a movement in which all the arts were to test their ideas and forms against the new realities of scientific and industrial society. This movement was led by Filippo Marinetti. Futurism used typography to make poems a work of art, words and letters were not always strung along the page in a row or standing straight up.  Futurist painters were strongly influenced by cubism but also added movement in their works. Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carra, Luigi Russolo, Giacomo Balla, and Gino Severini were futurist painters who published Manifesto of the Futurist Painters. Antonio Sant' Elia was a futurist architect, he declared decoration to be absurd. His ideas and drawings influenced the course of modern design and art deco. Dadaists rebelled against world war horrors and other norms.  Marcel Duchamp, dadaists most prominent artist, outraged the public when he painted a mustache on a reproduction of the Mona Lisa. John Heartfield used photomontage as a propaganda weapon, The Weimar Republic and Nazi Party were his targets and even after his studio was raided he moved and mailed postcard versions to major Nazi leaders. Dada eventually led to surrealism and then died off. Andre Breton founded surrealism. It was a way of thinking and knowing , a way of feeling, and a way of life.  Giorgio de Chirico is considered to be the first surrealist painter. A large amount of artists joined this movement,  several majorly impacted photography and illustration.  Expressionism was a movement which dipicted emotions and personal responses. There were two early expressionist groups created by the Germans, Die Brucke and Der Blue Reiter. Man Ray was the first photographer to explore and create pictures using solarization. 

I thought the most interesting part of this reading was that even after Heartfield's studio was raided he still sent his propaganda to Nazi leaders, it was as if he had a death wish.

What are schadographs?